The Eyes of My Mother

The Eyes of My Mother
Directed by Nicolas Pesce
Produced by
  • Max Born
  • Jacob Wasserman
  • Schuyler Weiss
Written by Nicolas Pesce
Starring
  • Kika Magalhães
  • Olivia Bond
  • Diana Agostini
  • Paul Nazak
Music by Ariel Loh
Cinematography Zach Kuperstein
Edited by Nicolas Pesce
Production
companies
  • Borderline Presents
  • Tandem Pictures
Distributed by Magnet Releasing
Release date
  • January 22, 2016 (2016-01-22) (Sundance)
  • December 2, 2016 (2016-12-02) (United States)
Running time
 77 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language
  • English
  • Portuguese
Box office $27,539[2]

The Eyes of My Mother is a 2016 American black-and-white horror film written, edited and directed by Nicolas Pesce in his directorial debut.

The film was produced by Borderline Presents and Tandem Pictures. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to a polarizing reception and was acquired by Magnet Releasing,[3] set for release in the United States on December 2, 2016.

Plot

Francisca and her mother and father live on a farm where they raise cows and other animals. A trained surgeon, Francisca's mother teaches her how to remove eyeballs from farm animals, as well as the legend of St. Francis of Assisi. One day when the father is out, Charlie, a door-to-door salesman, appears and asks to use the bathroom. Against her better judgment, Francisca's mother lets him into the house. Charlie draws a gun and takes Francisca's mother into the bathroom. When Francisca's father comes home, he finds Charlie beating his wife to death in the tub. He knocks Charlie out and chains him up in the barn. Francisca and her father bury her mother in the backyard. Francisca visits Charlie, and he explains the incomparable thrill of killing others. Off camera, Francisca removes Charlie's eyes and vocal cords, then bags them and puts them in the refrigerator. Francisca explains to Charlie that he was not killed because he is her only friend and she will look after him.

Years later, the adult Francisca's father dies, and she preserves the body. She meets Kimiko, a Japanese student, at a bar. Kimiko and Francisca return to Francisca's home but Kimiko is put off at Francisca's description of the death of her mother and the statement that she murdered her father. Kimiko tries to leave, but off screen Francisca murders her, chops her up and bags the organs, putting them in her refrigerator.

Afterward, she bathes Charlie, who was still chained up in the barn, and brings him inside to sleep with her. Charlie attempts to escape in the middle of the night, but Francisca catches up to him and repeatedly stabs him while admitting to him how intoxicating murder is.

Francisca, distraught at being completely alone, wanders the woods until she reaches a highway and catches a ride with a woman named Lucy back to the house. Lucy has a baby son named Antonio whom Francisca kidnaps upon reaching the house. Francisca stabs Lucy and praises her dead mother for bringing the pair to her, then keeps Lucy's son as her own child. Like Charlie, Lucy has her eyes and vocal cords cut out by Francisca and is kept chained up in the barn.

Antonio grows into a school age child and is shocked at seeing Lucy when he enters the barn, which he is told never to go into. Antonio later unlocks the barn, and Lucy escapes. A trucker finds Lucy on the highway, and police are called to the barn. Francisca is shown digging up the grave of her mother in the woods, cradling the skeleton and telling her how much she misses her. Coming back from the gravesite, Francisca sees police vehicles coming to the house and rushes to wake Antonio. Taking him into the bathroom while holding a knife, she brandishes it in front of her while screaming that the police will never take her baby.

The camera cuts to an aerial view of the house as a gunshot is heard.

Cast

  • Kika Magalhães as Francisca
  • Olivia Bond as Young Francisca
  • Diana Agostini as Mother
  • Paul Nazak as Father
  • Will Brill as Charlie
  • Joey Curtis-Green as Antonio
  • Clara Wong as Kimiko
  • Flora Diaz as Lucy

Release

The Eyes of My Mother premiered in the NEXT section at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2016.[4] It was acquired by Magnolia Pictures' foreign language film division Magnet Releasing.[5] It was released to select theaters and via iTunes, cable/satellite video on demand, and Amazon Video on December 2, 2016. The film is also available on Netflix streaming.

Reception

The Eyes of My Mother was positively received by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a score of 75%, based on 83 reviews, with an average of 6.5/10. The site's consensus states: "The Eyes of My Mother uses a shocking trauma to fuel a hauntingly hypnotic odyssey whose nightmarish chill lingers long after the closing credits."[6] Metacritic reports a 63 out of 100 rating, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]

References

  1. ↑ "The Eyes of My Mother (15)". British Board of Film Classification. November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Eyes of My Mother (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  3. ↑ Setoodah, Ramin (February 12, 2016). "Sundance Horror Film 'The Eyes of My Mother' Sells to Magnet Releasing (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Haunting First Look at 'The Eyes of My Mother' Makes This Sundance Premiere a Must-See". January 12, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  5. ↑ Setoodah, Ramin (February 12, 2016). "Sundance Horror Film 'The Eyes of My Mother' Sells to Magnet Releasing (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  6. ↑ "The Eyes of My Mother (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Eyes of My Mother Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
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